2 of my angels just lost their tales almost totally, and one is on its way. I noticed one af them being agressive, but it dont bite them. What is it? Could it be fin rot? My water parameters are just fine, and they are acting just like they use to. The rest of the fish also does. I keep them with Otos and Corys.

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Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est - Life is more than just to be alive

Even if you haven't actually witnessed one angel biting the other, it doesn't mean it's not happening. I've seen some pretty aggressive Angels, but I've never seen one completely decimate the tail of another. They most likely have fin rot. The fin rot might have been brought on by exposed tissue from being bitten, though.
I've treated fin rot successfully with a variety of over the counter medicines. Talk to your Local Fish Store and see what they recommend. Follow the dosages carefully and the rot should discontinue.

I did have one strange case in which fin rot would return after treatment again and again. I would move the fish to another tank and they woudl recover well. I would move a perfectly healthy fish to this particular tank and they would exhibit fin rot. I eventually tore the tank down, disposed of the substrate and started new. That tank is now a healthy planted tank. Maybe the fin rot bacteria lived in the substrate?

the bacteria that causes fin rot is naturally found in all water, and only attacks the fish when it has opportunity to (usually poor water quality or existing injury).

i'm not sure why it happens that a tank can cause fin rot, but i've had that happen as well. tearing down the tank is usually the best way to go. i suspect that in cases like that, there's something in the substrate that's degrading the water quality to the point of allowing the fish to be stressed and the bacteria can then infect them. sometimes completly tearing down the tank is the only way to make sure that whatever was in the gravel is cleaned out.

The water quality is good, so it cant be that. I will have a big problem if i need to start all over again, because i will have nowere to put the angels. My brother got a small 10 gallon but it is only 25 cm high. I already have started on a fresh 2 times because of high nitrite. I will try to treat with medicin, and see how it goes. It,s just pretty weird, because it is only the angels that got it, but shouldnt it be the corys or the otos, because the live at the bottom?

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Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est - Life is more than just to be alive

The longer, trailing fins are the ones that are first susceptible to disease. Especially if they are torn or ragged from aggression. Water quality might not have anything to do with it. I did almost 100% water changes in that tank, and even stripped the tank of inhabitants for several months. As soon as I added fish back in, they got fin rot. Only fish with long fins, though. I lost a betta and then a veiltail goldfish. The angels recovered because I put them in another tank.

I had/am having a similar situation. My angel looked like it was having the tail nipped by something in the tank. I have serpae tetras, neon tetras, an angel, and at the time two corries. A few days later, I noticed that the lower half of several of the neon tetras were gone as well. I thought the tails were being nipped, someone suggested fin rot, but the condition of the fin looked ok, just missing. One of the serpae tetras got ich and I moved the fish over to the hospital tank where it later died. The fins on the fish are coming back very nicely. I'm stiill not sure what caused it, but I'm thinking that serpae tetra was nipping.

You will find that most of the damage will happen under the cover of darkness... any fishes "predatory" behavior is doubled when it can "ambush" a lesser fish... its nature...
That is why you dont witness the act very often...
Sometimes by removing the aggressor for a couple days will take that aggressiveness out of him until he gets reestablished again in his surroundings. If it continues the only thing you can do is permenantly remove the "offender".
Fin rot cannot happen unless the "general health" of the fish is lessened. A fish that is damaged is also stressed because of the attacks which in turn interupts the natural slime coating that protects it from disease.

Balance is the hardest thing in tanks... and that applies to the fish population as well as water quality... 1 is as important as the other...

Yeah, i have been thinking of moving the agressive one, but at the moment i got no quarantine tank ( i know it, i have to get one). Actually, the fins are growing out pretty nicely, so i will just leave it, and se what happens.

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Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est - Life is more than just to be alive

Not good then. I found the larger serpae tetra dead a few minutes ago. It looked like the fish had ich but instead of the little white dots, this was a large white hairy dot. The white area dissipated to a degree with an ich medication, but never went away. I retreated and yesterday was the last day of the second treatment. I saw the smaller serpae nip several times at the larger serpae. I'm sure the fish was stressed which didn't help.

That leaves the one serpae in my tank. We'll see how it behaves in a school of one.

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